After getting ‘love letter’ the third time, Gehlot meets Rajasthan Guv

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday (July 29) met Governor Kalraj Mishra after he returned for the third time the state government’s proposal to convene an assembly session.

“The love letter has already come. Now, I am only going to have tea with him,” Gehlot told party workers at the state Congress office before heading for the Raj Bhawan.

Hours after cancelling the “at-home” Independence Day event in view of the rising cases of coronavirus, Mishra returned the proposal of Gehlot, with the statement that a 21-day notice is necessary to call an Assembly session.

Earlier in a statement, he said the number of active cases in the state was two when the Assembly was adjourned on March 13 in view of the pandemic and thus cancelled the ‘at home’ event. It is a function organised by the head of the state every year on the occasion of Independence Day to which dignitaries are invited.

“The number of active cases on July 1 in the state stood at 3,381, which has gone beyond 10,000 as on July 28,” the governor said in a statement on Wednesday (July 29) morning.

His cancellation of I-Day celebration citing COVID-19 situation is being read as a ploy to buy more time.

The development comes a day after the Congress on Tuesday started an online campaign named #GetWellSoonGovernor, urging Mishra to call an Assembly session soon.

Gehlot had submitted his third proposal to the governor on Tuesday urging him to start a session on July 31.

The state Cabinet had resent a proposal to the Governor on Monday, sticking to the July 31 date for holding a session and refusing to mention that it planned to hold a trust vote. While returning the earlier version of the proposal the Governor had suggested that the session can be called at short notice if the government says seeking a confidence vote is on the agenda.

“You have sent the letter a third time. What do you want? Tell us, so that we work in that manner,” Gehlot said in his address at the Pradesh Congress Committee office, where Govind Singh Dotasara formally took over as the new chief of the state unit.

The chief minister told party workers that there is nothing to worry over as the Congress top leadership is with them. His meeting with the governor — the second in recent days — lasted for about 15 minutes.